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Finland — Unemployment rate reaches 9.5% in January

23 February 2010

According to the Labour Force Survey for January 2010, published by Statistics Finland (Stat) the employment rate in the Nordic country with a total population of 5.4 million, there were 87,000 fewer persons employed in January 2010 than in January 2009. The number of unemployed persons increased by 66,000 and the unemployment rate went up by 2.6 percentage points from twelve months back. The number of persons not in the labour force was 42,000 higher in January 2010 than one year earlier.

In January 2010, the number of employed persons was 2,367,000, which was 87,000 lower than a year earlier. In January of the year before the number had already fallen by 26,000. This January the number of employed persons was at approximately the same level as in January 2006 and 2007. The numbers of both wage and salary earners and self-employed persons decreased.

In January, the employment rate stood at 65.5%, which was 2.7 percentage points lower than one year before. Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the trend of the employment rate was 67.1%. From last year's January, men's employment rate fell by 3.1 percentage points to 66.4% and women's by 2.4 percentage points to 64.7%.

There were 250,000 unemployed in January 2010, i.e. 66,000 more than in January of the year before. The number of unemployed men grew by 49,000 and that of unemployed women by 17,000.

At 9.5%, the unemployment rate was 2.6 percentage points higher in January than one year earlier. The trend of the unemployment rate was 9.1% in January. The unemployment rate for men rose by 3.6 percentage points to 10.8%, and that for women by 1.5 percentage points to 8.2%. This January the unemployment rate among young people aged 15 to 24 was 22.7%, which was 7.1 percentage points higher than in last year's January. The trend of the unemployment rate among young people was 23.7%. The unemployment rate was lowest in the area of Southern Finland AVI, where it stood at 7.6%, and highest, at 14.1%, in the area of Eastern Finland AVI.

To read the full Labour Force Survey in Finnish language please click here

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